11/06/2019
One Enchanted Evening on Roatan
What do you really want on your next vacation? What do you really need? Perhaps the answer is as simple as it is profound: a special place for re-connecting; just the right time for re-igniting a relationship; or possibly, the simple grace of sitting in a West End cafe looking at the sun set over the sea. All by yourself. Nobody bugging you.
Ah, yes . . . the sea. Vacation right on the very edge of the sea. For one hundred and eighty degrees . . . half the world . . . all you see is . . . sea.
You sit on your porch swing. Nothing between you and the sea, but waves that throw themselves against the rocks in a war that seems endless, but we know that the end will come and which will win—but not in my lifetime (or yours) or our children,’s children, perhaps, not even then, but someday the sea will wash over the top of the hill behind our beloved “Annabel” and Johnny and Martin (the landscapers) won’t have jobs. Don’t worry about them. They’re vigorous, enterprising chaps; they’ll be on the first canoe to the mainland. And don’t worry about “Annabel,” our pretty rental home for your vacation on Roatan Island. Roatan! Yes. Google “Roatan.” You’ll find it about forty miles off the coast of Honduras. Long skinny thing, isn’t it? Look down at the western tip of the island. There’s West End, and, three miles away, West Bay. Together, these two burbs are the center of much fun and coolness. Keep looking. There in West Bay, drive past Infinity Bay (All-Inclusive, lah dee dah), make a right turn at the top of the hill, swing around Lighthouse Point, ogle the pretty homes along the Iron Shore. In less than a mile, you come to the stone gates of Turtle Crossing. “Annabel” is the fourth home, on the right, on the water, on the rocks where the waves crash etc. The sea! The sea waves crash. Thank God, we’re back to the sea!
So, you sit on the swing and look out at the sea, and think about such things as the enormity of time and space, and so much more, and you realize that you are about as close to getting it as you’re gonna: eternity, infinity, causality, destiny . . . all of it. You go “whoa!” and take a deep breath and that’s the exact instant your partner brings you a cold glass of “sun tea” that she’s been brewing all morning down on the steps. Scoot over, making your intentions unmistakable. Come, sit by my side.
Together you talk about the sea, and life and stuff, and then you get past that and go on to truly important things. Later, you go out to dinner at one of the cutest little restaurants on the beach. Have drinks. Watch the sun go down. “Ah . . . what has Chef Paul fixed for us tonight?”
